Broward pols salivating for ethics code rewrite

September 10, 2013|By Brittany Wallman, By Brittany Wallman

It's the moment we've been waiting for, because we knew it was bound to come: County commissioners are going to change the Code of Ethics. The foreshadowing came today, three years and a month from passage of the historic code on Aug. 10, 2010.

(Memory refresher from the Broward Politics archives, and this one is classic: "A new Code of Ethics is law now in Broward County. It was just enacted by unanimous vote, 8-0. That would have been nine votes, but one of the commissioners resigned recently and was charged with felony unlawful compensation.'')

County and city commissioners have complained about the ethics code since it went into place. They don't like the zero-tolerance gift ban, they don't like being removed from the selection committees that choose vendors for major contracts. They don't like elements of the code that ban family members from lobbying.

What else do they not like? We'll find out soon.

Commissioner Lois Wexler said she's working on changes she'd like to see, and will bring them forward within the year. She said she's been working with Broward Inspector General John Scott, the independently appointed enforcer of the code, and the county attorney.

Wexler's announcement at Tuesday's meeting was undoubtedly music to some of her colleagues' ears. They've had many discussions about the ethics code, very few of them positive.

You might recall that commissioners approved the code. But they didn't write it. It was fashioned by a committee from the political community. The way the process worked was that if the County Commission didn't approve the code as-is, it went to the ballot for voters to decide, and then would have been ironclad in the county charter.

Because it's just a county ordinance, the code doesn't have lock-box protection. Commissioners can change it on any given Tuesday. But they've been hesitant to do so.